Chapter Summaries

Liu Xiaolou arrived at Pingdu Mountain and met Liu Daolin, a Water Flow lineage Formation Master, who discussed Liu Xiaolou’s method of breaking the East White Peak Grand Formation. Liu Daolin revealed that Liu Daoran was his cousin, leaving Liu Xiaolou to consider the family’s ties to the Eight Formations Gate of Pingdu.

• Liu Xiaolou reached Wuyu Peak and rode a formation-guided boat up the mountain after manipulating its waterfall and spring.
• Liu Daolin greeted Liu Xiaolou, recognized him as the Three Xuan Sect’s sect master, and asked how he had broken the East White Peak Grand Formation.
• Liu Xiaolou recounted driving a water disk into the formation eye, allowing the Zhanglong Sect’s elders to breach the formation with five magic treasures.
• Liu Daolin critiqued Liu Xiaolou’s shallow understanding of water and explained that water could transform into other things.
• Liu Daolin told Liu Xiaolou that Liu Daoran was his cousin, prompting Liu Xiaolou to realize that the Liu family had connections to the Eight Formations Gate of Pingdu.

Liu Xiaolou explored Wuyu Peak’s Cloud Gorge formation and discussed the nature of water and formations with Qi Xuan. After Liu Daolin told him that Liu Daoran had failed his Foundation Establishment attempt and had not emerged, Liu Xiaolou set out with Liu Daolin to visit the manor.

• Liu Xiaolou repeatedly entered and left the Cloud Gorge, studying its mysterious spatial formation.
• Liu Xiaolou met Qi Xuan, compared their cloud gorges, and spent the night discussing formations and the nature of water.
• Liu Xiaolou and Qi Xuan parted at dawn and recorded what they had learned from their discussion.
• Liu Daolin told Liu Xiaolou that Liu Daoran had failed his Foundation Establishment attempt and might still be in danger.
• Liu Xiaolou agreed to travel with Liu Daolin to Liu Family Manor to check on Liu Daoran.

Liu Xiaolou and Liu Daolin rushed to Liu Family Manor after Liu Daoran’s Foundation Establishment attempt failed, then broke into Peach Blossom Cave and revived him. Liu Xiaolou discovered Blood Gu in Daoran’s meridian, leaving the family to face the possibility that someone had poisoned him with Gu.

• Liu Daolin and Liu Xiaolou learned that Liu Daoran remained sealed inside Peach Blossom Cave after his Foundation Establishment attempt failed.
• Liu Daolin and Liu Xiaolou sensed that Daoran was alive but weak, and Madam Liu agreed to let them break the formation.
• Liu Daolin and Liu Xiaolou destroyed the Spirit Gathering Formation and found Daoran unconscious and gravely ill inside the cave.
• Liu Daolin gave Daoran a Bihan Pill, and Liu Xiaolou helped channel its power until Daoran regained consciousness.
• Daoran coughed up clotted blood containing wriggling worms, which Liu Xiaolou identified as Blood Gu hiding in Daoran’s meridian.

After Liu Daoran survived the Blood Gu, Liu Daolin and Liu Xiaolou tried to learn how he had obtained the suspicious Foundation Establishment Pill, then moved him to Wuyu Peak for safety. Liu Xiaolou joined the gathered Formation Masters at Seabed Reef, where Jian Shao assigned them a formation-disc project to complete within half a month.

• Madam Liu explained that Liu Daoran had returned from a trip to Panlong Mountain with a Foundation Establishment Pill and entered seclusion, where he was afflicted by the Blood Gu.
• Liu Daolin and Liu Xiaolou woke Liu Daoran to question him, but learned only the clues “Miao village,” “Du Juan,” and “Snake Aunt” before Madam Liu insisted they let him recover.
• Liu Daolin and Liu Xiaolou arranged for Madam Liu to take Liu Daoran to Wuyu Peak, while she left stewards to watch the estate and sent people to southeastern Guizhou to investigate.
• Liu Xiaolou visited Seabed Reef and spoke with Qi Xuan, who explained that its reef stones formed a wondrous formation attributed to the Wuyu Immortal.
• Jian Shao ordered the assembled Foundation Establishment Formation Masters to pair up, refine formation discs within half a month, and avoid prying into one another’s work.

Liu Xiaolou was left to refine a formation disk alone after his expected partner, Qi Xuan, paired with others. He memorized a complex blueprint, collected abundant materials, and ended the chapter delighted by the wealth he had been given.

• Qi Xuan became occupied with other guests, leaving Liu Xiaolou without a partner for the refinement task.
• Liu Daolin and Zhang Huanhe decided Liu Xiaolou would work alone and promised that completing half the disk would earn him full merit.
• Liu Xiaolou memorized the seventy-two rune channels on his half-sheet formation diagram before the diagrams were burned.
• Liu Daolin told Liu Xiaolou that he could complete whatever portion he managed and still receive full merit.
• Liu Xiaolou collected the materials he requested from Zhang Huanhe, who added a tael of Black Iron Snake Skin.
• Liu Daolin and Zhang Huanhe doubted Liu Xiaolou's formation skills, while Liu Xiaolou piled the materials on his bed and celebrated his sudden riches.

Liu Xiaolou studied the Trapping Array plate he had to refine and sought advice from other Formation Masters about its difficult rune channels. His visit to Senior Zhang left him alarmed by her advances, and Qi Xuan began to explain his elder as they departed.

• Liu Xiaolou examined the array diagram and identified the seventy-two rune channels and their circulation as major challenges.
• Liu Xiaolou wrote down his questions and visited the other Formation Masters to seek guidance, beginning with Senior Zhang of Golden Rooster Rock.
• Senior Zhang flirted with Liu Xiaolou, but he declined her wine and invitation to stay the night.
• Liu Xiaolou left Senior Zhang’s Cloud Gorge, and Qi Xuan began whispering about his elder.

Liu Xiaolou sought fellow cultivators to settle a wager about array-forming finger techniques, paying for their advice as he went. At a stone boat, he was caught up in a desperate furnace-refining effort and was forced to learn the Kanli Finger Technique on the spot.

• Liu Xiaolou asked Longmen Jin Changshu and Longmen Bi Sikong whether a finger technique required “bear five” or “skip four,” and they judged that bear five was correct for a Trapping Array.
• Liu Xiaolou asked Fellow Daoist He and Brother Feng about the six-three yin-softness method, paid them spirit stones, and learned how to arrange the paths for copper paste and gold sand.
• Liu Xiaolou entered a stone boat in the Cloud Gorge and was set ablaze by a fire spark after interrupting the refiners.
• A tall, thin man dragged Liu Xiaolou to the furnace and recruited him to help the hunchback, who was struggling to maintain the refining process.
• The tall, thin man and the hunchback taught Liu Xiaolou the Kanli Finger Technique, correcting his gestures as he tried to form a fiery arrow.

Liu Xiaolou helped Liang Renfang and Pang Qiugong refine Ling Kui Dan Gui, then tried to persuade them to help him escape his wager with the Northern Sect. Once they learned the wager involved the Wen Clan, they dismissed him, and he left with four spirit stones and a warning about his reputation.

• Liu Xiaolou watched Liang Renfang and Pang Qiugong finish refining Ling Kui Dan Gui, which Liang said could improve a formation's effectiveness by nearly ten percent.
• Liang offered to teach Liu Xiaolou the refining method after three years of service, but Liu hesitated and claimed he had an entanglement preventing him from joining them.
• Liu Xiaolou revealed that he had lost a wager to the Shouyang Mountain branch of the Northern Sect and showed the signed document.
• Liang Renfang and Pang Qiugong recognized the Wen Clan's involvement and immediately tried to send Liu Xiaolou away.
• Pang Qiugong gave Liu Xiaolou four spirit stones as payment for his help, and Liang warned him that many people were unconvinced by his reputation at Dongbai Peak.

Liu Xiaolou drew on three days of studying with Formation Masters to refine a trapping-array formation disk for his assignment. The finished disk produced only half its intended effect, but it exceeded his minimum requirements and left him confident he could submit it.

• Liu Xiaolou visited cloud canyons across Wuyu Peak, resolved more than half his formation questions, and learned practical techniques from several Formation Masters.
• Liu Xiaolou refined a jade formation disk from Zhang Huanhe's materials, carefully planning around its cracks, discoloration, and other flaws.
• Liu Xiaolou etched all seventy-two rune channels after five days and nights, leaving seven intersections unconnected.
• Liu Xiaolou refined the rune true liquid in two days, ruining thirty percent of the spiritual materials and saving forty percent for later.
• Liu Xiaolou nearly ruined the disk while combining it with the rune true liquid, then changed to a back-side scorching method and completed a trapping array that grew trees and vines.
• Liu Xiaolou tested the disk and found that it achieved half its designed effect, exceeding his minimum requirements and satisfying him.

Liu Xiaolou turned in his formation plate at Seabed Reef and watched Jin Changshu and Bi Sikong receive payment for their imperfect work. When his own square plate proved incompatible with the completed semicircular half, he asked Elder Jian for guidance on improving it.

• Liu Xiaolou counted the materials and savings from his work, then traveled from Cloud Gorge to Seabed Reef with his finished formation plate.
• Elder Jian inspected Jin Changshu and Bi Sikong’s formation plate, judged it acceptable despite its flaws, and awarded them three spirit stones and one merit credit each.
• Elder Jian recalled how Liu Xiaolou had once intervened against Lu Yuanlang and explained that he had admitted Liu Xiaolou to the sect and assigned him formation work to gain experience.
• Liu Xiaolou presented his square formation plate, and Zhang Huanhe pointed out that it could not fit the completed semicircular plate made by Liu Daolin and him.
• Liu Xiaolou suggested cutting the unused-looking edges from the other plate, but Zhang Huanhe warned that doing so would reduce its effectiveness by at least ten percent.
• Liu Xiaolou asked Elder Jian to guide him on his own formation plate.

Liu Xiaolou’s improvised Rigid-Flexible Thorn Formation passed inspection despite being weaker than the original, and Jian Shao approved it for the greater formation. After Liu Xiaolou left, Zhang Huanhe proposed assigning him a low-budget mountain-protecting formation for Fenglin Manor.

• Jian Shao tested Liu Xiaolou’s garden formation and discovered that its birdsong and digging were illusions that concealed the formation eye.
• Liu Daolin and Zhang Huanhe judged the formation weaker than the original, but agreed it could be used because it was only one branch of the greater formation and time was short.
• Jian Shao awarded Liu Xiaolou three spirit stones and one merit record, then assigned Liu Daolin to merge the formation discs.
• Liu Daolin suggested combining Liu Xiaolou’s illusions with the forest formation, while Zhang Huanhe reflected on how efficiently Liu Xiaolou used spiritual materials.
• Zhang Huanhe proposed that Liu Xiaolou refine Fenglin Manor’s sixteen-disc mountain-protecting formation for 120 spirit stones, and Liu Daolin agreed to trust him.

Liu Xiaolou confronted Liu Daoran about the Gu that nearly killed him and asked whether he wanted revenge, but Liu Daoran admitted his real worry was losing his wife. Madam Liu overheard them, reconciled with her husband, and Liu Xiaolou prepared to return to Wulong Mountain before Liu Daolin offered him a deal.

• Liu Xiaolou got Liu Daoran to reveal that Snake Aunt, whose name was Du Juan, had given him a Foundation Establishment Pill and that he had nearly died from her Gu.
• Liu Daoran rejected revenge and said he regretted betraying his wife, blaming Liu Xiaolou for leading him into pleasure and threatening to sever their friendship.
• Liu Daoran and Liu Xiaolou struggled over a short blade, but Madam Liu emerged from the clouds and knocked it away with a short fork.
• Madam Liu invited Liu Daoran back to the stone boat for a meal, and he followed her while Liu Xiaolou left the cloud gorge.
• Liu Xiaolou told Liu Daolin the matter was settled and said he would return to Wulong Mountain, but Liu Daolin offered him a deal.

Liu Xiaolou reluctantly accepted a low-paid commission to build a trapping formation at Fenglin Manor in Qin Land, hoping to earn favor with Elder Mei. He then accompanied Liu Daoran and Madam Liu away from Wuyu Peak, and they arrived at Qianzhu Ridge, where the couple admired his mountain.

• Liu Xiaolou protested that the formation commission would cost far more than its offered payment, but Zhang Huanhe offered eighteen spirit stones, two merit transfers, and travel expenses.
• Liu Xiaolou accepted the commission and received Zhang Huanhe’s letter to take to Fenglin Manor at Phoenix Mountain.
• Liu Xiaolou joined Liu Daoran, Madam Liu, their servants, and their carriage as they left Wuyu Peak for Wulong Mountain.
• Madam Liu and Liu Daoran said they hoped a change of location would help Liu Daoran recover, and Madam Liu appeared relieved as they traveled away from Bazhong.
• The group reached Qianzhu Ridge, where Madam Liu and Liu Daoran praised the scenery and Liu Xiaolou saw his mountain as more beautiful than before.

Liu Xiaolou left Wulong Mountain for Qin Land to inspect a formation-plate commission at Fenglin Manor on Phoenix Mountain. After the manor lord learned Liu Xiaolou had recognized the manor’s formation, he changed course and went out to greet him.

• Liu Daoran and Madam Liu settled into Half Pine Flat, and Liu Xiaolou gave them money for their needs.
• Liu Xiaolou asked Liu Daoran and Madam Liu to oversee Qianzhu Ridge while he traveled to Qin Land for a formation-plate job.
• Liu Xiaolou traveled through unfamiliar mountain country for four days before finding Phoenix Mountain and Fenglin Manor.
• Liu Xiaolou showed his letter to a manor servant and waited while the message reached Manor Lord Yin Xiang.
• Manor Lord Yin Xiang initially planned a modest reception, but hurried out with orders for the finest banquet after hearing Liu Xiaolou had identified the manor’s formation.

Liu Xiaolou met Manor Lord Yin at Fenglin Manor and impressed him with stories and insights about formations he had learned from renowned masters. The chapter ended with Manor Lord Yin inviting him to lunch, while Liu insisted he was there only as a Formation Master, not a Sect Leader.

• Advisor Luo told Liu Xiaolou three stories about Fenglin Manor’s past, its ancient protective formation, and a Yin family disciple chosen by Xixuan Longtu Pavilion.
• Manor Lord Yin arrived and asked Liu Xiaolou about his lineage, his formation training, and Fenglin Manor’s grand formation.
• Liu Xiaolou compared the manor’s formation to Jinting Sect’s, recounting how Master Tang replaced Crane Releasing Peak’s formation while Dongbai Peak’s outdated formation failed during a siege.
• Liu Xiaolou described what he had learned from Master Tang, Dragon Son Fu, Elder Jian, and other experts, sharing their differing ideas about talismans and water-element runes.
• After Advisor Luo pointed out that two hours had passed, Manor Lord Yin invited Liu Xiaolou to lunch, but Liu said he was there as a Formation Master, not a Sect Leader.

Liu Xiaolou discovered that Fenglin Manor had invited him to restore its grand formation for only 120 spirit stones, far less than a new formation would cost. After the Yin family debated how to approach him, he agreed to inspect the formation before discussing terms, while insisting he could not make his collaborators or disciples lose money.

• Liu Xiaolou enjoyed a lavish luncheon with Manor Lord Yin, Advisor Luo, and the Yin family's Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• The Yin family discussed Liu Xiaolou's abilities and worried that their offer of 120 spirit stones was inadequate, then sent Advisor Luo to negotiate with him.
• Liu Xiaolou explained that a new grand formation would require many Formation Masters and resources, and Advisor Luo clarified that Fenglin Manor only wanted the existing formation's damaged areas and sixteen subsidiary formation disks restored.
• Liu Xiaolou agreed to inspect the grand formation before discussing the price, while warning that he could not give away his entire fortune or ask his collaborators to work at a loss.

Liu Xiaolou examined Feng Mountain’s damaged formation diagram and recognized that the Candeng Taihua Immortal Formation was far more ancient and valuable than the Yin family realized. After studying the diagram and surveying the mountain with Advisor Luo, he began tracing how the formation interacted with Feng Mountain’s terrain and identified possible causes of its malfunction.

• Manor Lord Yin brought Liu Xiaolou the fire-damaged formation diagram, and Liu Xiaolou recognized ancient runes that showed it was not a formation made fifteen hundred years ago.
• Liu Xiaolou insisted Advisor Luo stay with him while he studied the diagram, explaining that the Candeng Taihua Immortal Formation was a top-grade grand formation and that his reputation required witnesses.
• After three days and nights of study, Liu Xiaolou understood the formation’s broad framework and spent seven days surveying Feng Mountain with Advisor Luo, recording its terrain, feng shui, and unusual signs.
• Liu Xiaolou identified a possible Earth Dragon’s lair and explained that the formation disk might have been disrupted by shifting terrain, spirit beasts, or spiritual objects in the soil.
• Liu Xiaolou took Advisor Luo toward the western ridge to observe the evening glow, carrying him swiftly over the mountain and stirring his longing for Foundation Establishment.

Liu Xiaolou struggled to understand Fenglin Manor’s ancient grand formation and considered abandoning the repair, but Manor Lord Yin and the others pooled their spirit stones and told him they would not blame him if he stopped. Their generosity overcame his doubts, and he vowed to repair the formation no matter the cost.

• Advisor Luo reported that Liu Xiaolou had spent fifteen days surveying Feng Mountain and studying its caves and formation, prompting the Yin family to feel ashamed of their lack of support.
• Yin Feifeng, Manor Lord Yin, Yin Feilong, and Advisor Luo each offered their savings or salary to help fund the repairs.
• Liu Xiaolou admitted that he barely understood the formation diagram and considered using the shortage of spirit stones as an excuse to leave after memorizing it.
• Advisor Luo presented Liu Xiaolou with 220 spirit stones gathered by the manor’s leaders and household.
• Manor Lord Yin told Liu Xiaolou to repair as much as he could, or stop entirely, and keep the stones as travel expenses without fear of blame.
• Ashamed by the Yin family’s generosity, Liu Xiaolou agreed to continue and vowed to repair the grand formation regardless of the cost.

Liu Xiaolou inspected Fenglin Manor’s subsidiary arrays and uncovered more defects than the Yin family had expected. After promising to return with help from Wulong Mountain and restore the Candeng Taihua Immortal Formation, he accepted the family’s Spirit Jade.

• Liu Xiaolou shut down the Radiant Light Formation’s subsidiary array before its arrow-like gleams could cause Manor Lord Yin worse injuries.
• Liu Xiaolou found a blocked rune channel that left a weak passage through the Radiant Light Formation, and Advisor Luo demonstrated how the array disc’s light paths could reveal different channels.
• Liu Xiaolou and the group discovered a chipped array disc that let enemies escape the Axe Stone Formation through the same southeastern gap.
• Liu Xiaolou inspected the manor’s other subsidiary arrays and found twenty faulty discs instead of the sixteen Fenglin Manor had reported.
• Liu Xiaolou accepted Manor Lord Yin’s Spirit Jade and promised to return to Wulong Mountain for help restoring the formation.

Liu Xiaolou traveled to Yuezhou to seek Qingzhu’s help repairing a damaged grand array, and she agreed to examine his array diagram and Spirit Jade. They began discussing how to repair the twenty sub-array plates so the grand array would operate smoothly.

• Liu Xiaolou reached Qingzhu Garden and learned from Xiao E that Qingzhu had gone to Lotus Creek Hall in Yuezhou.
• Liu Xiaolou found Lotus Creek Hall and met Qingzhu, who explained how the Ouyang clan’s grounds attracted local Rogue Cultivators.
• Liu Xiaolou showed Qingzhu the Axe Stone Trapping Array diagram, and she eagerly studied its calculations.
• Liu Xiaolou revealed that he had 240 spirit stones and thirty-six pieces of Spirit Jade for repairing twenty damaged sub-array plates.
• Liu Xiaolou explained that the repairs did not need to restore every plate individually, but had to let the grand array operate smoothly.